It seems that referee Lee Mason decided that Marko Marin’s appalling lunge on Stephan M’Bia happened too earlt in the game (four minutes) to warrant a red card. As that probably would have ‘spoiled the game’.

Indeed, that argument that referees should be more lenient early doors in a game, as otherwise he’ll ‘have to send everyone off’ is utter rubbish. It’s like saying that the police shouldn’t arrest shoplifters in the morning, as it’ll ruin the rest of the day.

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Adebayor was sent off on 18 minutes for the same thing, so that whole “early doors” story doesn’t fly for me anymore. Besides, Marin commited a bookable offence in the 2nd half when he blatantly pulled a player in an off-the-ball incident and yet the ref only gave a foul.